54. Junxing Mountain · 4 · Tianmen Tongkuang
No one answered Tang Xichun's question. She herself understood that this was not Junxingzi's normal state, or rather, the Junxingzi in front of her had been "frozen" by some kind of magic. Only her form could be seen, and her aura was weak.
The group consciously dispersed and carefully explored the temple.
Apart from Junxingzi sitting cross-legged in the very center of the hall, the entire hall was spotless, with nothing left behind, as if it had been hastily looted. Even the decorations on the beams and pillars had disappeared without a trace. All the beads on Junxingzi's abacus had been removed, and the cabinet for collecting flower tea remained half-open and empty.
Finally, they all gathered in front of Junxingzi and shook their heads:
Nothing was gained.
Hu Xiaoyun clung tightly to Zhang Benyi, her brows furrowed, sniffing the air. "The air here is so awful. When can we leave?"
"breath?"
Zhang Benyi pulled it off his neck, hugged it in his arms and comforted it, "It's okay, it's just a little quiet, there are so many of us here."
"no……"
Hu Xiaoyun smelled something, her face shrank, as if she had caught the scent of a frightening fox. Her body trembled uncontrollably, her large tail wrapped around Zhang Benyi's arm, and she hid her head in the crook of his arm.
"There's a very complicated and terrifying aura, like there are a lot of monsters nearby... I feel like throwing up..."
The expressions on everyone's faces changed slightly.
A lot of monsters? Where are the monsters? Looking around, there's only Hu Xiaoyun, the contracted beast; everyone else is human.
Demons and humans each have their own strengths. As a fox demon, Hu Xiaoyun is more sensitive to auras and is likely to detect the strangeness faster than anyone else present. In addition, the strange speed at which Zhang Benyi's strange aura compass rotates further convinced the group that something was hidden in Junxing Mountain.
Tang Xichun and Bei Chen knelt down beside Jun Xingzi to check her injuries. Bei Chen followed along, turning back to look at Tang Xichun, "Besides silence, I didn't feel anything. Did you feel anything?"
Tangxi carefully sensed her surroundings but found nothing. She shook her head.
Tang Xichun hesitated for a moment, "Then, should we leave? But we haven't found anything..."
It was her first time entering the secret realm, and she was eager to show off her skills.
"Let's go."
Tang Xi glanced at the lifeless Jun Xingzi and said, "Make sure you're safe first."
Tangxi Chunxiao helped Junxingzi tidy up her appearance.
She was as stiff as a statue, her hair and body were rigid and difficult to move. Tang Xichun herself was quite strong, and she was now using a lot of force to shake Junxingzi, her fingernails even turning slightly white. This made Tang Xichun feel uneasy, as if she were giving end-of-life care to a withered corpse.
If Beichen hadn't confirmed after examining Junxingzi's pulse that she still had some life force left, Tangxi Chun would have almost thought that the Lord of Junxing Mountain had passed away.
Bei Chen used a cleansing spell to wipe the dried blood off Jun Xingzi's face, and Tang Xichun picked her up and carried her on her shoulder. "Alright, let's go."
Tang Xi asked the two of them, "Are you going to take her away?"
The three of them were taken aback by his question.
Bei Chen said, "Aren't you going to take her? It's not safe here, and leaving her alone on Junxing Mountain, who knows what might happen to her."
Tang Xihe: "She is the Lord of the Underworld. The secret realm has rules for them. If Junxingzi leaves the territory without permission, we don't know what rules she will trigger."
“But it’s not safe here. I want to take her back to the hotel,” Bei Chen said, unusually stubborn. “Maybe Nine-Headed Zhang knows what to do.”
“Yes, Tangxi,” Zhang Benyi also advised, “she is the only Lord of the Three Realms who can connect the three realms. We can’t leave her here, can we? What if the evil spirit master attacks? The barrier of Junxing Mountain might be the work of the evil spirit master.”
She can connect the three realms!
Tang Xi was surprised and glanced sideways at the shoulder.
Junxingzi was lifeless and cold, her cheeks as smooth and cold as porcelain, and even her snow-white eyelashes looked dry and stiff.
She wasn't breathing, but Tang Xihe couldn't help but shudder and quickly averted her gaze. For some reason, Tang Xihe had a strong, unsettling feeling:
Junxingzi seemed to be conscious; she could hear everyone's conversation.
A ruler who can connect the three realms? What happened to her that turned her into this?
“Let’s go then,” Tang Xihe turned and left the hall first, “Let’s see if we can take it with us.”
Tang Xi and Ben Yi thought that since there was a barrier outside the territory of Junxing Mountain, it meant that all the movements of Junxing Mountain were already within the control of the evil spirit master.
The "Reversal Technique" can dismantle a barrier without anyone noticing.
However, if Junxingzi is taken away rashly, the disappearance of her aura will be very obvious to the person who set up the barrier, and taking her away rashly is more likely to alert the evil spirit master.
Several solutions flashed through her mind. Tang Xi and her group walked in front, stepping out of the Sun and Moon Temple.
"call--"
The courtyard, which had been as quiet as if time had stood still, was suddenly swept by a strong wind.
Alarm bells rang immediately. Bei Chen made a move to condense his energy into a sword and fly away. "Retreat quickly!"
The strange thing was that the wind only got stronger and stronger, and in the blink of an eye, it blew the tiles flying and made the eaves jingle.
"Hey everyone! Let's stick to the rules!"
Zhang Benyi held Hu Xiaoyun tightly and roared, his voice distorted by the sudden gust of wind, "The wind picked up as soon as Junxingzi left the Sun and Moon Temple, which means there are rules on Junxing Mountain that are restricting her!"
Tang Xichun snapped, annoyed, "Can't you be a little more firm in your stance?!"
An even stronger gust of wind howled in, making it impossible for everyone to open their eyes. Zhang Benyi staggered two steps and lost his balance, retreating to the threshold. Hu Xiaoyun in his arms was even more disheveled, her front paws tightly gripping Zhang Benyi's arm, her body swaying in mid-air like a soft "turquoise noodle," frightened and disoriented, her eyes seeing stars.
"Come in!"
Zhang Benyi disregarded privacy concerns; the vague unease in his heart grew stronger with the sudden gust of wind, and he immediately put Hu Xiaoyun into his storage ring.
The next second, the sky quickly darkened.
Zhang Benyi was just congratulating himself on his quick reflexes when he saw everyone instinctively look up and then froze.
The sky was no longer a clear blue, but a distinct black and white. A circular black object was surrounded by a ring of snow-white, and a huge black circular object in the center was trembling slightly.
...A formation? What kind of formation is black and white? Why does this thing look so strange? It's slippery, fleshy, and translucent...
Wait, that's not right.
After a series of mental steps, Zhang Benyi realized what had happened and was so shocked that his hair stood on end. It was the first time he had ever known that when a person is extremely frightened, they can feel every pore on their body, from their scalp to their heels, burst open.
It's not that the sky has changed, it's that something is blocking the sky... it's an eye, an eye that blots out the sun.
The eye hangs high in the sky, looking down at everyone. One can vaguely sense that this single eye may have come from a part of a human face.
But it was ridiculously large; a single eyeball could block out the sky. It appeared silently, seemingly real yet illusory, staring at these ants who had just stepped out of the Temple of the Sun and Moon with its bloodshot, unfocused pupils.
If this were in a novel, Tang Xichun would probably laugh at how unrealistic it was. But seeing is believing. At this moment, there really was an enormous eyeball hanging high in the sky. A single eye could blot out the sun. She couldn't even imagine what this thing was really like. She was so scared that she almost couldn't control her breathing. Her muscle memory made her grip the hilt of the long sword tightly, as if she had grabbed a lifeline.
For the first time, Tang Xichun felt her own insignificance, followed by a vague sense of oppression. This invisible oppression grew stronger and stronger. Zhang Benyi was the weakest among them and was the first to be pressed to the ground by the pressure.
This was an absolute pressure, something Bei Chen's entourage was all too familiar with.
He had used the method of summoning star lords before and had seen how terrifying the destructive power of the star lords he summoned was to the surroundings. Now, the one being suppressed had become himself. Bei Chen gritted his teeth and endured it. Just standing up and looking up at the one-eyed man was very strenuous, and fine sweat seeped from his forehead.
"What...what is this?"
Tang Xi and her companion barely managed to lift their heads, and the thing emitted a faint sound.
"I...I am the Heavenly Gate Madman, the Ghost Immortal, fear not."
"Heavenly Gate Madman!"
Bei Chen exclaimed, "Never heard of it! But it sounds amazing!"
The two people beside them exchanged bewildered glances. "A ghost immortal?"
Ghost immortal, yet another ghost immortal.
Tangxi thought of Guifang's experience.
What's going on? Two ghost immortals appearing in this blessed land in quick succession? That's too frequent!
The thing didn't care about Bei Chen's rudeness, and only said to everyone, "Hide it well."
Hide it well?
The crowd was even more puzzled, but they felt the oppressive aura fading away little by little. They couldn't figure out what the ghost immortal meant and looked at each other in confusion.
Tang Xi tried to communicate with it, "This immortal, could you please withdraw your oppressive aura? We have no intention of offending this place, we only want to save our friend."
"I know." He sighed deeply, his voice sounding aggrieved and helpless.
"I haven't released my pressure yet..."
Immediately, the pupil in the sky trembled, then suddenly turned, pointing in a certain direction. The voice was clearly angry, shaking the mountains and rivers. The sound waves from the roar made everyone's vision go black, and cracks appeared on the ground. Zhang Benyi screamed twice and was about to fall when Tang Xi grabbed him by the back of his collar.
"You worthless scum! Come out and face your death!"
A deep hum came from the depths of the earth. Tianmen Tongkuang roared and "ignited" something underground. Then, with a deafening "boom", the mountain cracked instantly.
Three shadows suddenly flew into the air.
Tang Xichun was still shaken. Looking at the collapsing Junxing Mountain beneath her feet, the tremors grew stronger and stronger, and she had to shout to speak to those around her.
"What does this mean? The pressure has been removed, but this ghost immortal is cursing us? But he told us to hide? I'm so confused."
“No,” Tang Xihe said, staring intently at the collapsed Sun and Moon Temple, “there’s something underneath.”
As Mount Junxing collapsed, something gradually emerged from underground. Only then did everyone realize that beneath the Temple of the Sun and Moon, something enormous seemed to be slowly revealing its true form. Beneath the hard rocks, there was an enormous, soft object that trembled little by little as the mountain crumbled and rocks fell.
"Hide well," Tianmen Tongkuang reminded him again. "There are restrictions here, and I cannot help you."
“That’s perfect.” Tang Xichun stared intently at what was gradually being revealed. “You are restricted, but we may not be.”
Tang Xihe struggled as she held Zhang Benyi, saying, "What went wrong? Can we put Junxingzi back now? Is it too late? Tang Xihe, can you pull out a sword? Aren't you tired of carrying me?"
"Oh? Oh, sorry, sorry!"
Tang Xihe quickly condensed her energy into a sword, and the two stood on it one after the other. Zhang Benyi nervously gripped the hem of Tang Xihe's clothes. Standing on high ground, Zhang Benyi could clearly see that below Junxing Mountain, another mountain peak was faintly emerging.
Zhang Benyi's expression gradually changed. "What is this?"
……Meat?
A giant mountain of flesh?
It was a large, soft mass emerging from the collapsed mountainside, accompanied by a suffocating stench. The faces of the people covering their mouths and noses gradually turned green. Tangxi and her friend kindly cast a breathing spell on her younger sister to prevent her from being bothered by the strange and disgusting toxic gas, as Tangxi was carrying someone and couldn't free her hands.
Even so, Tang Xichun couldn't stand the visual shock and retreated several hundred meters away, screaming, "How disgusting! What is this?!"
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